North East Tennessee Watercolors
I surrendered to the overwhelming beauty of the North Eastern Tennessee area. I moved from Texas to Greeneville, TN, last year to be closer to family. I hadn’t created any work (outside of school) on “plein air” (painting nature outdoors, as you see and experience it, right then and there) since I had moved back to the States in 2003. I knew the area was pretty but I didn’t expect to be completely taken by it! The mountains… so lush, so fertile, so alive with infinite colors at sunrise… the endless sky with clouds that mimicked the mountains they sat above… the smell of pine, oak, black laurel, fertile dirt, rain forrest… taking in the area with all my senses awoke what had been dormant in me for so long. I couldn’t help but surrender to the beauty, surrender to Great Spirit, and take it all in. When I paint, plein air, I am able to be completely present, living the present moment right then and there, feeling my heart and spirit just be with Great Spirit and all its beautiful creations. This body of work, rendered in watercolor, was created between fall of 2019 and fall of 2020.